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Making a planned gift is a wonderful way to show your support and appreciation for Luther Seminary and its mission, while accommodating your own personal, financial, estate planning, and philanthropic goals. With smart planning, you may actually increase the size of your estate, save on taxes, receive income for life, or enjoy other financial benefits – all the while knowing that you have made a wonderful gift to Luther Seminary.


We recommend that you familiarize yourself with various gift options by exploring How to Give and What to Give tabs or download or request for free The Guide to Estate Planning or The Guide to Gift Planning. These resources will give you a basic understanding of gift planning and allow you to compare options that are best for you. And, of course, please contact us for assistance or to discuss your personal situation and goals.

Planned Giving
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Life Estate Reserved

You may desire to leave your home or farm to Luther Seminary at your death but would also like to receive a current charitable income tax deduction. A life estate reserved might offer the solution you need!

Life Estate Reserved
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Benefits of a life estate reserved

  • Receive a federal income tax deduction for the value of the remainder interest in your home or farm
  • Preserve your lifetime use and control of your home or farm
  • Create a life estate based on more than one life. This will preserve the use of the property for you and a loved one, such as a spouse or dependent child

How a life estate works

  1. You deed your home or farm to Luther Seminary. The deed will include a provision that gives you the right to use your home or farm for the rest of your life and that of any other life estate party named in the deed.
  2. You and Luther Seminary sign a maintenance, insurance and taxes (MIT) agreement to explain that you will do your best to keep the property in good condition and that you will maintain property insurance and pay the property taxes.
  3. When the owners of the life estate have passed away, your home or farm will belong to Luther Seminary. We will use or sell the property to further our charitable work.

Contact us

To learn more about a life estate, please contact us. We would be happy to assist you and answer your questions.

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